Eco Footprint – The Sims 4 Guide

What is Eco Footprint in The Sims 4?

Eco Footprint measures your Sim’s impact on the surrounding environment. Both their home and Neighborhood are looked at and are ranked on three Pollution Levels: Green, Neutral, and Industrial. More on this later.

Your Sim’s Eco Footprint is calculated based on how much non-green electricity is used in their house, what materials their home is made of, and how much greenery they have in their yard. Their surrounding Neighborhood is also included in this and you may have to tweak the homes of nearby residents too if you want to improve the overall Pollution Level.

Each Neighborhood in a World (except StrangerVille, Granite Falls, and Selvadorada) has its own Eco Footprint, meaning you may have to manage 2-4 Neighborhood Pollution Levels if you want the whole World to be Green.

Pollution Levels

To view your Sim’s Pollution Level, hover over the foot icon by the in-game clock. There are three Pollution Levels in the game: Green being the best, Neutral being okay, and Industrial being bad.

Having a Neighborhood be Green means that Sims will gain the Clean Air positive moodlet, greenery will be in abundance, and your Sim’s bills will be much lower. Auroras will also appear in the sky at night.

A Neutral Neighborhood isn’t affected by pollution environmentally so you won’t see any negative effects. All Neighborhoods in Worlds outside of Evergreen Harbor have the Neutral Pollution Level by default.

When a Neighborhood has an Industrial Pollution Level, Sims will gain the Gross Air negative moodlet, trash will line the streets, clouds of thick smog will appear in the air, and greenery will look very unhealthy. Your Sim’s bills will also increase and they can have actions interrupted by coughing fits.